§29.] PHONETICS. S, S, SR. 15 



says, if the accepted derivation of the Bal. word holds good. But it is simpler to 

 derive the O. form from the Av. Skr. ^'vac-. See § 31, 3. 



(5) s = original Skr. s. Skr. pisia-, adorned, O. pist-ak^ to write ; Skr. mahisa-, 

 O. mis, a buffalo ; Skr. y/mas-, O. mast-ak, to break. 



(6) s (? s) = original 8y. Av. *yyao?,-, yuiSyeiti, 0. (kus-'ek, to seek. 



(7) s = original ^s, rs. Av. tarsti-, 0. tist-''ek, to run away; Av. cadwavdsata- , 

 0. Mstu, forty. 



(8) s, s = original x§. It is in this case that the interchangeability of s and | is 

 seen most clearly. Cf. § 37, 3. 



{a) s. Av. axsaena-, green, 0. sin-wu, potherbs ; Av. -xsap-, Skr. ksapa, 0. siw, 

 night; Av. x^'>^^pi^'y O- sippi or sipi, milk. 



(b) s. Av. baxsaiti, Skr. b'aksati, O. 6asi, he gives ; Av. muxsi-, Skr. maksika, 



O. m"si, a fly ; Av. xs?^<^s Skr. S(2S, O. s"^, so, six. In each case the 

 corresponding Skr. word has s. 



(9) s = original fs. Av. fsu-pana-, O. swan, a shepherd. 



(10) In the word siistak, to weep, s is used instead of s', probably owing to the 

 influence of the following sibilant. (See § 29, ic). 



(11) st = original st, when preceded by a vowel. Thus O. Prs. a -j- s/sta-, 0. 

 ast-'ek, to stand. But, if preceded by s, s-\-st become st, as in wust-'ek, to arise. 

 When initial, st become t. See § 33, 5- 



(12) st = original st. Skr. prsta-, 0. pastan" , an enquiry ; Skr. pista-, adorned, 

 O. pist-ak, to write ; Skr. b'rsta-, roasted, Phi. brist-an, O. brast-ak, to burn. 



(13) Original s also becomes final A (§ 25, 2), and (doubtful) h (§ 31, 3). sk be- 

 comes k (§ 21, 4) ; sw becomes m (§ 20, 2). Indian sv becomes x (§ 22, 5). 



(14) We have syncope of original s in Av. gaosa-, 0. goy , the ear; Av. maesa-, 

 0. mai, a ewe. In both cases, the s has become final, and a y (t) has been added to 

 compensate for the loss of the palatal s. Or the y may be a feminine termination. 

 Cf. § 13, 2. 



§ 29. ST. 



(i) This letter is peculiar to 0. Regarding its pronunciation, see § i, Rem. 3. 

 It is often written with an r preceding it, thus rsr, as in mersr or mesr, the sun ; but 

 this is only a scribal variation in the method of indicating this difficult sound. It 

 always represents an original compound letter, of which the second member was r. 

 The only compound of this kind that is not so represented is br (see § 15, 4). 

 Thus :— 



{a) ^ = original kr. Skr. krinati, 0. slna, he buys : Skr. krita-, 0. sl-yek, 



bought. 

 (6) = original x^- Av. suxva-, O. su^ ; Phi. taxr, O. te^, bitter. 



(c) = original gr. Phi. grlstan, to weep, 0. fawa, he weeps. It is noteworthy 



that the infinitive and past participle of this verb is sustak, not srustak. 

 The simplification is probably due to the difficulty of pronouncing sr 

 with a following s. Cf. r'asai, for *^asrai or ^bra&ai, in § 15, 4. In Skr. 



